I've been so overwhelmed with work recently that I've been away from my Mirage translating (subtitles are 75% done) but I finally received my copy of the Gurenzaka Blues play today and just finished watching it.

Considering that this is a condensation of 3 (?) books it's understandable that the story doesn't flow as well as the first two plays. The atmosphere of the entire play is relatively more intense but there isn't as good a buildup or a true climax in the story-telling IMO. What I'm really still thinking about is the cast this time round.

Among the new members of the cast, Kanegae Kou is far and away the MVP with his performance as Kousaka. His Kousaka is freaking brilliant. Period.

I like the new Minako (played by Onogawa) better. Imade plays a fine Minako but I wasn't convinced that she could play Kagetora well from her performance when she was possessed by the dragon god/Takeda spirits. Onogawa has a very strong presence as Minako, perhaps a bit stronger than I expected for the character, so I can somewhat imagine her as Kagetora. Also, she has very good chemistry with Tomita and I really enjoyed their scenes together.

Hiramaki Jin's Naoe is most certainly better than Aramaki's. That said, I don't think he hit all the notes as Naoe. I found his performance a little uneven. He's very good in certain scenes like Naoe's grief over the death of Kasahara's parents but I feel that he didn't quite capture Naoe's cold, scary facade of barely concealed jealousy. To give him some credit, his last scene with Tomita is splendid and I really felt that I was watching Kagetora and Naoe. 

The returning cast is great as usual. Tsukui is still my favorite besides Tomita. Hayashi also got a chance to shine as Ranmaru. His scene with Tomita is fantastic.

I feel like I'm starting to sound like a broken record when it comes to Tomita as Kagetora but the man is truly the heart and soul of the Shouwa plays. I love the way he can balance authority and vulnerability in his performance.